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“They don’t carry lanterns,” a fine line marred the middle of Xen’s dark brows, as if the idea of reapers carrying lanterns was absurd. “And it’s not only wandering souls they harvest.”

Evan surprised himself by how fast he caught on to the underlying meaning of that sentence. “They come after demons too?”

Xen fell silent again.

It made sense. Spirits weren’t the only ones who caused trouble in the human world. But if these reapers were doing their jobs, how was it that Evan’s list of exorcisms never lessened? In fact, ever since he’d released a particular demon from containment, his workload had been piling up. And it was acutely annoying because he wasn’t even getting paid for all this trouble.

Kicking a tiny rock out of the way, Evan marched forward, a step ahead of Xen. “You won’t be taken away by a grim reaper, will you?”

Not that he would care if Xen was taken away. Hell, it would be liberating even, having his mind not read without his consent and his body actually obeying his command.

Xen’s voice rumbled low behind Evan. “They wouldn’t lay a finger on me.”

“Pfft. Sure.”

Silence.

Suddenly, the hair at Evan’s nape spiked in alert, invisible worms crawling beneath his skin. An imposing presence heated his back as if something immense was looming over him.

Evan stilled in his tracks, then threw a wary look over his shoulder. His eyes widened.

A humanized shadow the size of a small tree was casually trailing behind Evan, tracing his little footsteps with its massive foot. It was all but an unending abyss of darkness, a black hole that sucked all light and life and turned it into nothing. But its presence was so well concealed that even Evan—with his hypersensitive senses—had not registered it until now.

Instinct-driven, Evan summoned his spiritual light into a fist, ready to strike. But he stopped short when the Shadow tilted its head, almost...confused. It reached forward with one huge, translucent claw, gently trailing through Evan’s bangs, down his cheek, and into his collar. The action was so familiar that Evan’s shoulders dropped before he could even realize it.

Wait, is that…?

“You…” The blue light faded from Evan’s fist as he lowered his hand. “When did you grow from a hand to…this?”

It was Xen’s Shadow. Now in a whole human form—although thrice the size of Xen himself—with limbs and head and…

Are those horns?

The Shadow shyly lowered its head, two red dots gleaming in its face. It swirled weightlessly around Evan, a gust of warm wind cocooning him and suppressing his chills. Red shimmered amidst the translucent black form of the Shadow like fireworks.

Evan snorted involuntarily when it tried to scoot closer with its huge body. “Well, well, someone’s excited.”

At his teasing tone, the Shadow trembled gleefully. Shrinking its imposing size to Evan’s height, it dropped its head onto his shoulder, snuggling up. If Evan strained his ear, he could almost hear a purr of content.

Atskflew from Xen’s mouth, narrow eyes shifting to the Shadow. It froze mid-cuddling, then cowered behind Evan.

“I asked you to stand guard,” Xen’s voice grated against the tensions in the air. “What are you doing clinging to him?”

With an inaudible whine, the Shadow transformed back into its huge size before quietly stepping back to its place a few feet away from Evan.

Evan took that personally on behalf of the Shadow. “You do realize that'syourShadow, right? Like your literal sunshine twin. So, you’re basically just scolding yourself right now.”

Xen gloomed quietly, then twisted his face away.

Evan and the Shadow shared a victorious look.

After passing the riverbank, they headed to the clearing leading to town, the distant sound of the busy streets echoing in their ears.

“So, why do we need a guard?” Evan waved a finger over his shoulder at the mighty Shadow following them.

Dark eyes shifted to Evan. Xen smiled. “Because I’m here.”

So, you’re the danger?